The
St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis,
Missouri
. They are currently members of the
Western Division of the
National Football Conference
(NFC) in the
National Football
League (NFL). The team has won three
NFL Championships, including one
Super Bowl.
The Rams
began playing in 1936 in Cleveland
, Ohio
. The
NFL considers the franchise as a second incarnation of the previous
Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the
second American Football
League. Although the NFL granted membership to the same owner,
the NFL considers it a separate entity since only four of the
players (
William "Bud" Cooper,
Harry "The Horse" Mattos,
Stan Pincura, and
Mike Sebastian) and none of the team's
management joined the new NFL team.
The team
then became known as the Los Angeles Rams after the club moved to
Los Angeles,
California
in 1946. Following the 1979 season, the Rams moved
south to the suburbs in nearby Orange County
, playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium
in Anaheim
for fifteen seasons (1980–94), keeping the Los
Angeles name. The club moved east to St.
Louis prior to the 1995 season.
Franchise history
Cleveland Rams (1936–1945)
The
Cleveland Rams were founded by attorney Homer
Marshman in 1936.
Their name, the Rams, comes from the nickname of Fordham
University
. Rams was selected to honor the hard work of
the football players that came out of that university. They were
part of the newly formed
American Football
League and finished the 1936 regular season in second place
with a 5–2–2 record, trailing only the 8–3 record of league
champion
Boston Shamrocks.
The
following year the Rams joined
the
National Football
League and were assigned to the Western division to replace the
St. Louis Gunners, who had left
the league after a three-game stint in the
1934 season. From the beginning, they were a
team marked by frequent moves playing in three stadiums over
several losing seasons.
In June 1941, the Rams were bought by
Dan Reeves and Fred Levy, Jr.;
Reeves, the principal owner, was an heir to his family's
grocery-chain business; when the company was purchased by
A&P, he used some of his inheritance to buy the
team. in April 1943, Reeves bought out Levy (who later rejoined
Reeves in the ownership of the Rams).
[813459] The franchise suspended operations and sat
out the
1943 season because of a
shortage of players during
World War II
and resumed playing in
1944
(coincidentally, the only other active NFL team to completely
suspend operations without merging with another team would be the
current NFL team in Cleveland, the
Browns, doing so from 1996-98 as part of
the agreement for
Art Modell to relocate
his franchise
to Baltimore). The
team finally achieved
success in
1945, which proved to be
their last season in Ohio.
Quarterback Bob
Waterfield, a rookie from UCLA
, passed,
ran, and place-kicked his way to the league's Most Valuable Player
award and helped the Rams achieve a 9–1 record and winning their
first NFL Championship,
a 15–14 home field victory over the Washington Redskins on
December 16. The margin of victory was a safety; Redskins
great
Sammy Baugh's pass caromed off the
goal post and bounded through his own end zone. The next year rules
were changed that made this a mere incomplete pass.
Los Angeles Rams (1946–1994)
Los Angeles Rams: Los Angeles Era (1946-1979)
1946-1948: Starting over in Los Angeles
On January
11, 1946, Reeves pressured the NFL to allow his team to relocate to
Los Angeles and its 92,000 seat Los Angeles
Memorial Coliseum
in 1946. This was despite the fact that the
closest NFL city to Los Angeles was over 2000 miles away in
Chicago. At the time, the NFL did not allow
African-Americans to play in the league.
The commissioners of the Los Angeles Coliseum stipulated as part of
the agreement that the team be
integrated.
As a result, the team
signed UCLA
players Kenny Washington and
Woody Strode, who became the first two
blacks to play in the NFL, post World War II.
The Rams were the second team in the NFL to play in Los Angeles.
The first team were the
Los
Angeles Buccaneers who only lasted for one season in 1926.
Reeves was taking a gamble that Los Angeles was ready for their own
professional football team. He was proved to be correct when the
Rams played their first pre-season game against the
Washington Redskins in front of a crowd
of 95,000 fans. The team finished their first season in LA with a
6-4-1 record, second place behind the Chicago Bears. At the end of
the season Walsh was fired as head coach.
The Coliseum would be the home of the Rams for more than thirty
years, but the facility was already over twenty years old on the
day of the first kick-off. It had been built in 1922 and used for
the 1932 Olympics. In 1948, halfback
Fred
Gehrke painted horns on the Rams' helmets, making the first
modern helmet emblem in pro football.
1949-1955: Three-end formation
The Rams' first heyday in Southern California was from 1949 to
1955, when they played in the NFL championship game (not yet called
the
Super Bowl) four times, winning once
in 1951. During this period, they had the best offense in the NFL,
even though there was a quarterback change from
Bob Waterfield to
Norm Van Brocklin in 1951. The defining
player of this period was wide receiver
Elroy Hirsch. Teamed with fellow Hall-of-Famer
Tom Fears, Hirsch helped create the style
of Rams football as one of the first big play receivers. During the
1951 Championship season, Hirsch posted a then stunning 1,495
receiving yards with 17 touchdowns. The popularity of this
wide-open offense enabled the Los Angeles Rams to become the first
pro football team to have all their games televised in 1950.
1956-1962: Tanking out
The Rams suffered a down period on the field from 1956 until 1966
posting losing records in every season. However, the business side
of the franchise was nurtured by a visionary exectutive in
Pete Rozelle. During his time with Rams,
Rozelle learned the value of television for the sport of pro
football. Through Rozelle's savvy use of television, the Rams
remained a glamor NFL franchise despite their poor record. In a
1957 game against the San Francisco 49ers, the Rams set the
all-time record for attendance for a regular season NFL game with
102,368. The Rams would draw over 100,000 fans twice the following
year.
1963-1969: The Fearsome Foursome
The Fearsome Foursome: (L to R) Lundy,
Grier, Olsen, and Jones
The 1960s were defined by the Rams great defensive line of
Rosey Grier,
Merlin
Olsen,
Deacon Jones, and
Lamar Lundy, dubbed the "
Fearsome Foursome". This group
was put together by then head coach Harland Svare. It was this
group of players who restored the on-field luster of the franchise
in 1967 when the Rams reached (but lost) the conference
championship under legendary coach
George Allen. That 1967 squad would
become the first NFL team to surpass one million spectators in a
season, a feat the Rams would repeat the following year. In each of
those two years, the L.A. Rams drew roughly double the number of
fans that could be accommodated by their current stadium for a full
season.
George Allen led the Rams from 1966-70 and introduced many
innovations. These included hiring a young
Dick Vermeil as one of the first
special teams coaches. Though Allen would
enjoy five straight winning seasons and win two divisional titles
in his time with the Rams he never won a playoff game with the
team, losing in 1967 to Green Bay 28-7 and in 1969 23-20 to
Minnesota. Allen would leave after the 1970 season to take the head
coaching job for the Washington Redskins.
1970-1972: Changes
Quarterback
Roman Gabriel played
eleven seasons for the Rams dating from 1962-72. From 1967-71,
Gabriel led the Rams to either a first- or second-place finish in
their division every year. He was voted the MVP of the entire NFL
in 1969, for a season in which he threw for 2,549 yards and 24 TDs
while leading the Rams to the playoffs. During the 1970 season,
Gabriel combined with his primary receiver
Jack Snow for 51 receptions totaling
859 yards. This would prove to be the best season of their eight
seasons as teammates.
In 1972 Chicago industrialist
Robert
Irsay purchased the Rams for $19 million and then traded the
franchise to
Carroll Rosenbloom
for his
Baltimore Colts and cash.
The Rams remained solid contenders in the 1970s, winning seven
straight
NFC West championships between
1973-79. Though they clearly were the class of the NFC in the 1970s
along with the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, they lost the
first 4 conference championship games they played in that decade,
losing twice each to Minnesota (1974, 1976) and Dallas (1975,
1978).
1973-1979: NFC West Champs
The Rams' coach for this run was
Chuck
Knox, who led the team through the 1977 season. The Chuck Knox
coached Rams featured an unremarkable offense carried into the
playoffs annually by an elite defensive unit. The defining player
of the 1970s L.A. Rams was
Jack
Youngblood. Youngblood was called the 'Perfect Defensive End'
by fellow Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen. His toughness was legendary,
notably playing on a broken leg during the Rams' run to the 1980
Super Bowl. His blue-collar ethic stood in opposition to the
perception that the Rams were a soft 'Hollywood' team. However,
several Rams players from this period took advantage of their
proximity to Hollywood and crossed over into acting after their
playing careers ended. Most notable of these was
Fred Dryer, who starred in the TV series
Hunter from
1984-1991.
Ironically, it was the Rams' weakest divisional winner (an aging
1979 team that only achieved a 9-7 record) that would achieve the
team's greatest success in that period. Led by third-year
quarterback
Vince Ferragamo, the
Rams shocked the heavily-favored and two-time defending NFC
champion
Dallas Cowboys 21-19 in the
Divisional Playoffs, then shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0 in
the conference championship game to win the
NFC and reach their first Super
Bowl. Along with Ferragamo, key players for the Rams were halfback
Wendell Tyler, offensive lineman
Jackie Slater, and Pro Bowl defenders
Jack Youngblood and
Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds.
The Rams' opponent in their first
Super
Bowl was the defending champion
Pittsburgh Steelers.
The game would be a
virtual home game for the Rams as it was played in Pasadena at the
Rose
Bowl
. Although some oddsmakers set the Rams as a
10½ point underdog, the Rams played Pittsburgh very tough, leading
at halftime 13-10 and at the end of the 3rd quarter 19-17. In the
end, however, the Steelers finally asserted themselves, scoring two
touchdowns in the 4th quarter and completely shutting down the Rams
offense to win their 4th Super Bowl, 31-19.
Los Angeles Rams: Anaheim Era (1980-1994)
1979-1981: Starting over in Anaheim
Prior to the 1979 Super Bowl season, owner Carroll Rosenbloom died
in a drowning accident and his widow,
Georgia Frontiere, inherited 70% ownership
of the team. Frontiere then fired stepson Steve Rosenbloom and
assumed total control of Rams operations.
As had been planned
prior to Rosenbloom's death, the Rams moved from their longtime
home at the Coliseum to Anaheim Stadium
in nearby Orange County in 1980. The reason for the move was
twofold. First, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was exceedingly
difficult to sell out with a capacity of 100,000. Former Rams
executive Pete Rozelle had since become NFL commissioner, creating
a 'black-out rule' preventing any unsold-out game from being
broadcast in its local market. Second, this move was following the
population pattern in Southern California, which was causing rapid
growth of affluent suburbs in greater Orange County. Anaheim
Stadium was originally built in 1965 to be the home of the
California Angels. To
accommodate the Rams' move, the ballpark was reconfigured with
luxury suites and enclosed to accommodate crowds of about 65,000
for football.
In 1982, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was occupied by the
erstwhile
Oakland Raiders. The
combined effect of these two moves was to divide the Rams'
traditional fanbase in two. This was coupled with the early 1980s
being rebuilding years for the club, while the Raiders were winners
of
Super Bowl XVIII in 1983.
Meanwhile, the
Los Angeles Lakers
won
championships in 1980 and 1982 en
route to winning five titles in that decade, the
Los Angeles Dodgers won the
World Series in 1981 and 1988, and even the
Los Angeles Kings made a deep run
in the playoffs in 1982.
1983-1991: Robinson takes over the Rams
The hiring of coach
John Robinson in
1983 provided a needed boost for pro football in Orange County.
The
former USC
coach led the Rams to the playoffs six times in his
nine seasons. They made the NFC Championship Game in 1985,
where they would lose to the eventual Champion
Chicago Bears.
The most notable player for the Rams
during that period was running back Eric
Dickerson, who was drafted in 1983 out of SMU
and won Rookie of the Year. In 1984,
Dickerson rushed for 2,105 yards, setting a new NFL record.
Dickerson would end his five hugely successful years for the Rams
in 1987 by being traded to the
Indianapolis Colts for a number of
players and draft picks after a bitter contract dispute, shortly
after the players' strike that year ended. Dickerson remains the
Rams career rushing leader with 7,245 yards.
Despite this trade, the Rams remained contenders due to the arrival
of the innovative offensive leadership of
Ernie Zampese. Zampese used the intricate
timing routes he had used in making the
San Diego Chargers a state-of-the-art
offense. Under Zampese, the Rams rose steadily from 28th rated
offense in 1986 to 3rd in 1990. The late 1980s Rams featured a
gifted young QB in
Jim Everett, a solid
rushing attack and a fleet of talented WRs. After an 11-5 record
during the 1989 regular season, it was a team that seemed destined
for greater things, until a crushing defeat at the hands of the San
Francisco 49ers in the 1989 NFC Championship game.
1990-1994: The Demise of the LA Rams
The Rams never recovered from the humiliation. The first half of
the 1990s featured losing records, no playoff appearances for the
Rams and waning fan interest. The return of Chuck Knox as head
coach, after Knox's successful stints as head coach of the
Buffalo Bills and
Seattle Seahawks, would not boost the Rams'
fortunes. His run-oriented offense marked the end of the Zampese
tenure in 1993. The strategy was for the offense to be steady, if
unspectacular. Unfortunately for the Rams, Knox's offense was not
only aesthetically unpleasing, but dull as well, especially by
1990s standards.
Everett left the team after the 1993 season to become quarterback
of the Rams' rivals the
New Orleans
Saints and while he would post impressive statistics at times
there, he would never play for a winning team again. The continued
losing and uninspired play of the Rams, along with the loss of
familiar players, further reduced the Rams fan base, which by 1994
had withered to the point where they were barely part of the Los
Angeles sports landscape.
As became increasingly common with sports franchises, Georgia
Frontiere, owner of the Rams, blamed poor front office decisions on
their stadium situation. With Orange County mired in a deep
recession resulting largely from defense sector layoffs, the Rams
were unable to secure a new or improved stadium in the Los Angeles
area, which ultimately cast their future in Southern California
into doubt.
Georgia Frontiere attempted to relocate the Rams to Baltimore,
Maryland. That deal was eventually nixed. Mrs. Frontiere then
sought to relocate the team to the city of St. Louis. NFL owners
initially voted to oppose the move. Owners of the Buffalo Bills,
New York Jets and Giants, the Washington Redskins, the Phoenix
Cardinals and the Minnesota Vikings opposed the move and argued
that Mrs. Frontiere, who pleaded poverty as a basis for relocation,
had "horribly mismanaged" the team. Nevertheless, Mrs. Frontiere
threatened legal action and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
acquiesced to Mrs. Frontiere's demands. The move left many in the
Los Angeles area embittered toward the NFL. That sentiment was best
expressed by Fred Dryer, who at the time said "I hate these people
[the Rams and their owner, Georgia Frontiere] for what they did,
taking the Rams logo with them when they moved to St. Louis. That
logo belonged to Southern California."
Due to a number of factors, the NFL has repeatedly failed in its
efforts to return NFL football to Los Angeles. Following the 1995
season, the
Seattle Seahawks
announced that they would move the team to Southern California.
However the NFL, which had taken control of the Los Angeles market,
did not approve of the move and thus forced the Seahawks to move
back to Seattle, after
Microsoft
co-founder
Paul Allen came in with a
financial bail out package.
On September 24, 2009, after almost two
decades of political fighting, approval for a new stadium,
currently named Los Angeles Stadium
, was made in a 3-to-1 vote, more than likely paving
the way for the NFL's return to Los Angeles.
St. Louis Rams (1995–present)
Under the terms of the Rams' deal with Anaheim, they were to
receive the rights to develop plots of land near the Stadium. When
nothing came of these plans Georgia Frontiere got permission to
relocate the team.
This permission was only granted after the
building of the Arrowhead Pond, a multi-use sports arena for hockey
and basketball now known as Honda Center
, in close proximity to Anaheim Stadium. The
Rams agreed to let the Pond be built within miles of Anaheim
Stadium with an 'out clause' to pay the City of Anaheim an amount
of money in millions to release them from the lease.
After an aborted move
to Baltimore
, the Rams moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis in
early 1995, initially playing at Busch Memorial Stadium
until the (TWA) Trans World Dome
(now the Edward Jones
Dome
) was completed. The NFL owners originally
rejected the move—until Frontiere agreed to share some of the
permanent seat license revenue
she was to receive from St. Louis.
That same year the then-Los Angeles Raiders were threatening to
relocate as well—and did, back to Oakland
.
The
1995 and
1996 seasons the Rams were under the
direction of head coach Rich Brooks. Their most prolific player
from their first two seasons was the fan-favorite
Isaac Bruce. Then in
1997,
Dick
Vermeil was hired as the head coach. In 1997, the Rams traded
up in the draft to select future All-Pro offensive tackle
Orlando Pace. The Rams were very well known for
their high powered offense in
1999.
Prior to the season, the Rams traded a second and a fourth round
draft pick for future league MVP,
Marshall Faulk. The season started with
Trent Green injuring his leg in
preseason that would sideline him for the entire season. Vermeil
told the public that the Rams would "Rally around Kurt Warner, and
play good football."
Kurt Warner, a QB
that played for the
Iowa
Barnstormers just a few years prior, synced up with
Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce to lead the
Rams to one of the most historic Super Bowl offenses in history,
posting 526 points for the season.
Mike Martz's tenure
Following the
Rams win in
Super Bowl XXXIV against the
Tennessee Titans, Dick
Vermeil retired and Vermeil's Offensive Coordinator
Mike Martz was hired. He managed to take the
Rams to the
Super Bowl, losing to the
New England Patriots. Mike
Martz helped the Rams establish a pass-first identity that would
post an NFL record amount of points forged over the course of 3
seasons (1999–2001). However, in the first round in the
2004 draft, the Rams chose
Oregon State running back
Steven Jackson as the 24th pick of
the draft. Jackson has been one of the Rams' most successful
running backs since the Rams' arrival in St. Louis. Martz was
criticized by many as careless with game management and often
feuding with several players as well as team president and general
manager,
Jay Zygmunt. Although most of
his players respected him and went on record saying they enjoyed
him as a coach. In
2005, Mike Martz
was ill and hospitalized for several games, allowing assistant head
coach
Joe Vitt to coach the remainder of
the season, although Martz was cleared later in the season, team
president
John Shaw would not allow him to
come back to coach the team, and he was eventually
terminated.
Scott Linehan's tenure
After the Rams fired Mike Martz,
Scott
Linehan took control of an 8–8
team in
2006. In
2007, Linehan led the Rams to their worst
record yet, 3–13. Following the 2007 season,
Georgia Frontiere died January 18, 2008
after a 28-year ownership commencing in 1979. Ownership of the team
passed to her son
Dale "Chip"
Rosenbloom and daughter Lucia Rodriguez. Chip Rosenbloom was
named the new Rams majority owner. Linehan was already faced with
scrutiny from several players in the locker room, including
Torry Holt and Steven Jackson. Linehan
was then fired on September 29, 2008, after the team started the
season 0–4.
Jim Haslett, Defensive
Coordinator under Linehan, was interim head coach for the rest of
the 2008 season.
John Shaw then resigned as president, and personnel chief
Billy Devaney was promoted to general manager
on December 24, 2008, after the resignation of former president of
football operations and general manager
Jay
Zygmunt on December 22.
Steve Spagnuolo's tenure
On January 17, 2009,
Steve
Spagnuolo, formerly the Defensive Coordinator of the
New York Giants, was named the new head
coach of the franchise. Spagnuolo hired
Pat
Shurmur and
Ken Flajole as his
offensive and defensive coordinator respectively. In Spagnuolo's
first offseason with the Rams, they offered Baltimore Raven center
Jason Brown a record
contract to come play center for the Rams.
On May 31, 2009, the
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the majority owners Chip
Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez officially offered the Rams for
sale. They have retained the services of
Goldman Sachs, a prominent investment banking
firm, to help facilitate the sale of the Rams by evaluating bids
and soliciting potential buyers. The sale price is unknown, but
Forbes magazine's most recent
estimate listed the Rams' value at $929 million.
Season-by-season records
Logo and uniforms
St Louis Rams uniform
combinations
Los Angeles Rams uniform:
1964-1972
Los Angeles/St Louis Rams uniform:
1973-1999.
The sock stripes were removed when the team moved to St. Louis
in 1995.
The Rams were the first professional American football team to have
a logo on their helmets. Ever since
halfback Fred Gehrke, who worked as a commercial artist
in off-seasons, painted
ram horn on the team's leather helmets in 1948,
the logo has been the club's trademark.
When the team debuted in 1937, the Rams' colors were red and black,
featuring red helmets and black uniforms with red shoulders and
sleeves. One year later they would switch their team colors to
yellow and blue, with yellow helmets, white pants and blue
uniforms. By the mid-1940s the Rams had adopted yellow-gold jerseys
(with blue
serif numerals, yellow-gold helmets
and white pants. The uniforms were unchanged as the team moved to
Los Angeles. The helmets were blue in 1947. When Gehrke introduced
the horns, they were painted yellow-gold on blue helmets.
In 1949
the team adopted plastic helmets, and the Rams' horns were rendered
by the Riddell company of Des Plaines,
Illinois
, which baked a painted design into the helmet at
its factory. Also in 1949 the serif jersey numerals gave way
to more standard block numbers. Wider, bolder horns joined at the
helmet center front and curving around the earhole appeared in
1950; this design was somewhat tapered in 1954–1955. Also in 1950 a
blue-gold-blue tri-stripe appeared on the pants and "
Northwestern
University-style" blue stripes were added to jersey sleeves. A
white border was added to the blue jersey numerals in 1953.
So-called "TV numbers" were added on jersey sleeves in 1956. In
accordance with a 1957 NFL rule dictating that the home team wear
dark, primary-colored jerseys and the road team light shirts, the
Rams hurriedly readied for the regular season new royal-blue home
jerseys with golden striping and golden front and back numerals
with a white border. The white border was removed in 1958. The Rams
continued to wear their golden jerseys for 1957 road games, but the
following year adopted a white jersey with blue numerals and
stripes. In 1962–63 the team's road white jersey featured a
UCLA-style blue-gold-blue
crescent shoulder tri-stripe.
In 1964, concurrent with a major remodeling of the team's Los
Angeles Memorial Coliseum home, the colors were changed to a
simpler blue and white. The new helmet horns were white, wider, and
separated at the helmet center front. The blue jersey had white
numerals with two white sleeve stripes. The white jersey featured
blue numerals and a wide blue crescent shoulder stripe. A 1964
league rule allowed teams to wear white jerseys for home games and
the Rams were among several teams to do so (the
Dallas Cowboys, who introduced their new
blue-white-silverblue uniform that season, have worn white at home
ever since). The pants were white with a thick blue stripe. In
1970, in keeping with the standards of the fully-merged NFL and
AFL, names appeared on the jersey backs for the first time. The
sleeve "TV numbers," quite large compared to those of other teams,
were made smaller in 1965. From 1964 to early 1972 the Rams wore
white jerseys for every home league game and exhibition; it was a
tradition that continued under coaches
Harland Svare,
George Allen, and
Tommy Prothro. But new owner Carroll
Rosenbloom did not particularly like the Rams' uniforms, so in
pursuit of a new look the team wore its seldom-used blue jerseys
for its last five home games in 1972. During that season
Rosenbloom's Rams also announced an intention to revive the old
blue-and gold colors for 1973, and even asked fans to send in
design ideas.
The colors returned to yellow-gold and blue in 1973. The new
uniform design consisted of yellow- gold pants and curling rams
horns on the sleeves – yellow gold horns curving from the shoulders
to the arms on the blue jerseys, which featured golden numerals (a
white border around the numerals, similar to the 1957 style,
appeared for two exhibitions and was then removed). Players' names
were in contrasting white. The white jersey had similarly-shaped
blue horns, blue numerals and names. The white jerseys also had
yellow gold sleeves. The gold pants included a blue-white-blue
tri-stripe, which was gradually widened through the 1970s and early
1980s. The blue socks initially featured two thin golden stripes,
but these were rarely visible. From 1973-1978 the Rams were the
only team to wear white cleats on the road and black cleats at
home. The new golden helmet horns were of identical shape, but for
the first time the horn was not factory-painted but instead a decal
applied to the helmet. The decal was cut in sections and affixed to
accommodate spaces for face-mask and chin-strap attachments, and so
the horn curved farther around the earhole. Jersey numerals were
made thicker and blunter in 1975. Standard gray face masks became
dark blue in 1981. The Rams primarily wore blue at home with this
combination, but would wear white on occasion at home, notably for
games against the
Dallas Cowboys (who
usually do not wear their blue jerseys due to the popular notion
that the Cowboys' blue jerseys are
jinxed) and selected AFC teams. The
team wore its white jerseys for most of its 1978 home dates,
including its post-season games with the
Minnesota Vikings and Cowboys. The Rams
wore white exclusively in the strike-shortened
1982 season, and did so on selected
occasions throughout their fifteen seasons in Anaheim.
The team's colors were changed from yellow gold and blue to New
Century Gold (metallic gold) and Millennium (navy) blue in 2000
following the Super Bowl win. A new logo of a ram's head was added
to the sleeves and gold stripes were added to the sides of the
jerseys. The new gold pants no longer featured any stripes. Blue
pants and White pants with a small gold stripe (similar to the
Denver Broncos) were also an option with the Rams only electing to
wear the white set in a pre-season game in San Diego in 2001. The
helmet design essentially remains the same as it was in 1948,
except for updates to the coloring, navy blue field with gold
horns. The 2000 rams'-horn design features a slightly wider
separation at the helmet's center. Both home and away jerseys had a
gold stripe that ran down each side, but that only lasted for the
2000 and
2001 seasons.
In 2003, the Rams wore blue pants with their white jerseys for a
pair of early-season games, but after losses to the
New York Giants and
Seattle Seahawks, the Rams reverted to gold
pants with their white jerseys. In 2005, the Rams wore the blue
pants again at home against Arizona and on the road against Dallas.
In 2007, the Rams wore all possible combinations of their uniforms.
They wore the Blue Tops and Gold Pants at home against Carolina,
San Francisco, Cleveland, Seattle, and on the road against Dallas.
They wore the Blue Tops and Blue Pants at home against Arizona,
Atlanta, and Pittsburgh on Marshall Faulk night. They wore the Blue
Tops and White Pants on the road in Tampa Bay and at home against
Green Bay. They wore White Tops and Gold Pants at New Orleans and
San Francisco. They wore White Tops and White Pants at Seattle and
Arizona. And they wore White Tops and Blue Pants at Baltimore and
Cincinnati. In 2008, the Rams went away with the gold pants. The
gold pants were used for only one regular season game at Seattle.
The blue jerseys with white pants and white jerseys with blue pants
combination were used most of the time.
So far in 2009, the Rams have worn their white pants exclusively,
except for the September 20 game at the Washington Redskins where
the team wore Blue Tops and Gold Pants and the October 11 game vs.
the Minnesota Vikings, when the team wore its 1999 throwbacks
(
see below).
Since moving to St. Louis, the Rams have always worn blue at home.
Like most other teams playing in a dome, the Rams do not need to
wear white to gain an advantage with the heat despite its
midwestern geographic location. The Rams wore their white jerseys
with their blue pants in St. Louis against the
Dallas Cowboys forcing the Cowboys to wear
their unlucky blue uniforms on October 19, 2008, winning
34-14.
The NFL has approved the use of throwback uniforms for the club
during the 2009 season to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
1999 World Championship Team. The Rams will wear the throwback
uniforms for two home games in 2009 - October 11 against the
Minnesota Vikings and December 20 against the Houston Texans. In
1994, the team's last season in Southern California, the Rams wore
jerseys and pants replicating those of their 1951 championship
season for their September games with the
San Francisco 49ers and
Kansas City Chiefs.
Players of note
Current roster
Pro Football Hall of Famers
Former Rams in the Pro Football Hall of Fame include
Joe Namath (12),
Ollie
Matson (33),
Andy Robustelli
(81),
Dick "Night Train" Lane (also 81), coach
Earl "Dutch" Clark, and general manager
Tex Schramm. GM and later NFL
Commissioner Pete
Rozelle and coach
Sid Gillman are
also members of the Hall of Fame, but were elected on the basis of
their performances with other teams or (in the case of Rozelle) NFL
administration.
Dick Vermeil has become
the first and still only St. Louis Rams figure inducted into the
Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Cardinals inducted into it include
Dierdorf, Smith, Wilson,
Conrad
Dobler,
Jim Hart and
coach
Jim Hanifan.
St. Louis Football Ring Of Fame
Former St.Louis football Cardinals and former Rams are included in
the Ring Of Fame in the Edward Jones Dome. All players are hall of
famers, but there are a few exceptions for team executives and
coaches.
Former Rams
Former Football Cardinals
Former Team Executives and Coaches
Retired numbers
Numbers that have been retired by the Rams.
Coaches of note
Head coaches
Current staff
Radio and television
The Rams were the first NFL team to televise their home games; in a
sponsorship arrangement with
Admiral
television, all home games of the
1950
NFL season were shown locally. The Rams also televised games in
the early 1950s. The
1951
NFL Championship Game was the first championship game televised
coast-to-coast (via the
DuMont
Network).
During the team's years in Los Angeles all
games were broadcast on KMPC
radio (710
AM); play-by-play announcers were Bob Kelley (who accompanied the
team from Cleveland and worked until his death in 1965), Dick Enberg (1966–77), Al Wisk (1978–79), Bob
Starr (1980–89), Eddie Doucette (1990), Paul Olden (1991–93), and
Steve Physioc (1994). Analysts included
Gil Stratton, Steve Bailey,
Don Drysdale (1975),
Dick
Bass (1977–86),
Jack Youngblood
(1987–91), and
Jack
Snow with David
Deacon Jones
(1993–94).
Starting
in 2009, the Rams' new flagship radio station is 101.1 FM WXOS
, a new
sports station in St. Louis with ESPN Radio Affiliation.
Steve Savard, will remain the
play-by-play man with
D'Marco Farr
replacing
Jim Hanifan in the color spot.
From 2000–08
KLOU FM 103.3 was the Rams'
flagship station with Steve Savard as the
play-by-play announcer. Until October 2005,
Jack Snow had been the
color analyst
since 1993, dating back to the team's days in the Los Angeles area.
Snow left the booth after suffering an illness and died in January
2006. Former Rams offensive line coach and former St. Louis
Cardinals head coach
Jim Hanifan joined
the
KLOU as the color analyst the year after
Jack Snow's departure. Previously before the Rams moved to
KLOU, from 1995–99 the Rams games were broadcast on KSD
93.7 FM. On Television, games are either broadcast on
Fox,
CBS,
ESPN,or
NFL Network.
Preseason
games not shown on a national broadcast network are seen on
KTVI
, Channel 2, and are also seen in L.A. on KCOP
,
"MyNetworkTV channel 13."
See also
References
- NFL History, 1945. Official Site of the
NFL. Retrieved 13 September 2006
- Rams Fun Facts: Rams Famous Firsts. Official
Website of the St. Louis Rams. Retrieved 13 September
2006
- Rams Fun Facts: The Rams Horns. Official Website
of the St. Louis Rams. Retrieved 13 September 2006
- MSNBC.com Sports "Former Rams owner Frontiere dies."
Retrieved on 20 January 2008.
- [1] "Future ownership of Rams in doubt."
Retrieved 20 January 2008.
- Romo-less Cowboys lose to Rams
- Rams will wear 1999 'throwbacks' in '09
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